


The Wrong Twin

by Sonnshine



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2020-12-29 05:54:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21134597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sonnshine/pseuds/Sonnshine
Summary: The one in which Lindsey hits on Emily’s twin sister in a bar (and is completely unaware of it).





	1. Chapter 1

Caitlin and Lindsey are sitting at a booth in their favorite bar, waiting for their orders to arrive, when the topic circles back around to the latter’s least favorite subject.

“Lindsey, darlin, you really need to let out some of the tension that’s been lurking between you and Sonn.” 

Lindsey’s fingers immediately go up in air quotes as she responds defensively. 

“Tension, right...” 

Caitlin rolls her eyes. 

“Will you ever pull your head out of your ass and admit I’m right about this?” 

Lindsey shakes her head as their drinks and appetizer arrive, giving her a short break from Caitlin’s prying as they thank the waitress. 

“I’m only saying...” Caitlin starts up again shortly after, but is interrupted promptly. 

“Sonnett isn’t interested. Have you seen the O’Hara jersey in her closet? Clearly if her sights were on a teammate it’s not me!” 

Lindsey delivers the last bit a little louder than intended and ducks her head down to sip her drink for a moment to avoid finding out if it caught any unwanted attention. 

“Are we going to ignore that the two of you share clothes all the damn time?”

“That’s not...”

Lindsey sees Caitlin’s raising eyebrow and stops with a sigh. 

“If I take someone home tonight will you promise to leave this alone?” Lindsey finally bargains. 

“Let’s go with something you can prove without scarring me. How about I drop it for the month if you get a phone number.”

Lindsey shrugs as she turns her head to glance around the bar for potential targets. 

“I’ll be back before our food cools,” Lindsey says confidently upon spotting the back of a blonde woman sitting alone at the bar, nursing a beer. 

Caitlin raises her hand in a manner that commands Lindsey to stop as she’s preparing to lift herself up from the table. 

“You get one chance, and if you fail, next round’s on you.” 

“Game on.”

Lindsey doesn’t hesitate with her approach as she walks up behind the blonde who was in her line of vision before, knowing that thinking too much will cause her to lose her nerve. 

“Excuse me, I’ve lost my phone. Would you mind calling it for me?” Lindsey asks casually from right behind the stranger as she pretends to look under a couple tables directly behind them. 

Emma Sonnett turns around, intrigued by the interruption from a debate she’s having with her twin via text. Her curiosity heightens as she recognizes the other woman right away - one of her sister’s teammates - the one she talks about the most, actually. She’s never met Lindsey Horan until now, but her identity is unmistakable. 

“You sure the ringer’s on?” Emma responds neutrally, not certain what to make of this chance meeting. 

Lindsey smiles while she looks up, resulting in their first eye contact. She was going to answer the other woman’s question but is caught off guard by two things. One, she’s really beautiful. Two, something about her seems eerily familiar but she can’t quite place it. 

“Here,” Emma breaks the silence by holding out her phone toward Lindsey. “Go ahead and give yourself a call.” 

Lindsey doesn’t hesitate to finish her mission as the opportunity strikes smoother than planned. Her number is in the other woman’s phone and saved to her contacts within seconds before she rings out to it.

A clip of “Old Town Road” begins to sound from Lindsey’s pocket as the “lost” phone gives away its location. Temporarily distracted by the unexpected ring tone, Lindsey groans and mumbles “Sonnett” accusingly. This doesn’t go unnoticed by Emma who unintentionally reacts to her own last name subconsciously, an audible “what” falling from her lips. This brings Lindsey’s head back into the moment.

“Huh, um...guess it was there the whole time?” She plays off, thinking Emma’s confusion was about the location of the phone rather than the name she had mumbled. 

Lindsey proceeds to slide into the stool beside Emma, then seeks out the bartender’s attention. 

“At least let me buy you a drink for the trouble.” 

Emma tries to maintain her composure as she realizes Lindsey is not only unaware of her identify, but also apparently trying to make a move on her. 

“I’ll take one of whatever you’re having,” Emma decides to play along, if only to guarantee having one hell of a story to tell Emily later. 

Lindsey insists on a toast before they take their first sips and Emma follows her lead. 

“To ????” Lindsey leads, clearly looking for her name. 

“Emma,” she offers politely.

“To Emma!” Lindsey exclaims as their glasses connect. 

Emma’s attention is redirected midway through finishing her second beer as her phone vibrates a few times, signaling that someone has sent her a new stream of texts. 

“Do you mind...?” 

Although they don’t know each other yet, she doesn’t want to come off to Lindsey as impolite. But the taller blonde just shrugs and takes a couple more swigs of her own beverage.

Emily: Where’s your comeback?  
Emily: It’s been like 10 minutes!  
Emily: I can’t believe you’ve conceded for once in our lives. 

Emma can’t help but chuckle at her twin’s surprise. Lindsey takes immediate interest in her expression of amusement. 

“Is that your girlfriend?” Lindsey pries slowly, nodding toward Emma’s phone.

“Oh um...no. I don’t have a girlfriend?” Emma admits, although her tone somehow finds a way to make it sound like a question.

“Boyfriend?” Lindsey guesses next, possibly taking the questioning tone as an omission of other similar facts. 

“You’re awfully inquisitive for someone who hasn’t even properly introduced themselves,” Emma teases, seeing the immediate results as Lindsey appears rattled by the revelation. 

“Wow. Sorry. Yeah. I’m Lindsey,” she introduces with blushed cheeks and an outstretched hand to shake. 

The initiation of a hand shake is awkward, yet fitting to much of their interaction so far. Emma goes along with it as not to embarrass the other woman any further.

“Well Lindsey, do you pretend to lose your phone often?” 

Lindsey’s cheeks tint a shade deeper as she’s forced to face her own weak game. 

“I’ll buy another round if you’ll let us start over,” Lindsey negotiates. 

Emma accepts the offer, curiosity getting the best of her. She’s sitting beside someone her sister clearly admires a hell of a lot, so with a little digging there must be some redeeming qualities waiting to pop out. 

“I don’t usually have to trick people into giving me their number,” Lindsey says eventually, after their replenished pints have arrived. 

“Usually there are volunteers?” Emma quips with a smirk.

Lindsey smiles genuinely, and Emma takes note that it’s definitely one of her features that would have charmed Emily.

“I’m the reason they keep velvet rope in the closet, in case they need to start a queue.” 

And with a sense of humor like that, Emma also knows Lindsey’s been a victim to Emily’s influence. 

“It must be a slow night for you then,” Emma observes as she pretends to look around for other, eager potential suitors. 

“Not really. I have the attention of the one person who matters right now.” 

‘There it is. That smooth mother fucker.’ Emma thinks to herself as she recognizes this is normally the part where she’d flirt back. But she finds it harder to play along, knowing the inevitability of them being introduced to one another in a completely different context soon enough. 

“Has that line gotten you laid before?” 

Emma sips her beer innocently, as if she didn’t just push Lindsey’s ego down a notch from calling her out again. 

“Would it now?” 

And just like that, Lindsey kicks the ball back to Emma.

“Now’s not a good time for me. I’m staying with family.” 

“I have my own place,” Lindsey reveals. 

“Not the problem. I’ve already been out too long. They’ll send a search party.” 

It’s not a lie. It’s a convenient truth. Because Lindsey may lack tact, but she’s 100% a box of gay swag wrapped up in rainbows, and besides the fact that Emma recognized who she was from the beginning she easily could have seen herself going home with this woman. 

“Another time then? You have my number,” Lindsey reminds her.

Emma nods, relieved that’s as far as Lindsey’s going to press it. 

“I’m going to close out,” Lindsey informs her as she gets up from the stool and gestures toward the bartender. “It was nice meeting you, Emma.” 

“Take care,” she offers back with a small wave, not bothering to give it much finality since they’ll be seeing each other again soon. 

When Lindsey has paid her tab and returns to her table with Caitlin, the Aussie is doubled over in laughter. 

“That shut down was brilliant!”

Lindsey gives Caitlin a moment to compose herself while saving the phone number in her missed calls list to a new contact entitled “Emma Bar.” She slides it over in front of Caitlin with a smirk. 

“You were saying?”


	2. Chapter 2

Lindsey wipes the sweat from her brow before proceeding to lift her right leg onto the nearest bench so she can begin untying her cleats following a particularly brutal practice. She’s about done removing both when she senses someone coming up from behind her. This causes her to straighten her posture as she turns around to greet the intruder.

“What’s uh-ppp?” Her casual greeting quickly transitions into a stutter as she’s met face-to-face with the woman she’d met at the bar two nights earlier. “Huh - how?” She tries again to form a full thought but falls short as she glances around the locker room for any proof she’s not day dreaming.

No longer than 10 more seconds passes before Emily appears around the corner and greets them both enthusiastically. 

“There you are! Thanks for meeting me here. I’m starving,” Emily thanks her sister before addressing her teammate. “Linds, be ready to leave for dinner in 10?” 

Lindsey’s mouth opens to respond but she’s at a loss for words after looking between the two women in quick succession. Side by side, she immediately sees the resemblance. She closes her eyes, willing a different reality to exist when she reopens them, but to no avail. 

“Are you still having concussion symptoms?” Emily asks Lindsey, a deep concern reflected in her gaze. 

Emma puts all her energy into maintaining a poker face, her twin none the wiser about the true root of Lindsey’s inner turmoil. 

“I...no. Sorry. Just really looking forward to a shower. Meet you in the parking lot?”

Lindsey barely waits for Emily to confirm before she hastily walks out of sight. 

“That was weird,” Emily observes as Emma follows her to her locker so she can grab a change of clothes. 

“It’s no wonder the two of you get along then.” 

Emily scoffs.

“You’re one to talk.” 

“Just because we share DNA doesn’t mean you couldn’t have independently inherited all the uncool genes.” 

“Actually it kinda does,” Emily comes back easily, derailing the illogical argument. 

Emily’s stomach chooses that moment to grumble, reminding her of the hunger that’s built up from practice. 

“I’ll be back in a few. Don’t wander too far.” 

Lindsey finishes showering first and is relieved when Emma doesn’t make another appearance until after she’s dressed herself and left the locker room. She spent the entire five minutes below the shower head panicking, unable to rationalize how she managed to hit on her crush’s fucking twin sister without an inkling of suspicion towards their visual similarities. Sure, they aren’t identical, but it’d take an idiot to miss that they’re related. (It’s her. She’s the idiot). 

“I’ll drive,” Emily offers as the three of them reconnect out in the parking structure. 

Emma calls shotgun, Lindsey’s usual spot, but she doesn’t challenge her for it. It bothers her how unbothered Emma appears to be on the outside while she’s suffering on the inside. Seemingly brushing it off that Lindsey was not-so-subtly trying to get into her pants a mere 48 hours earlier.

“I’m so glad the two of you are finally able to meet,” Emily exclaims as they depart for their destination, forcing Lindsey away from her inner conflict. 

Emma looks at Lindsey through the rear view mirror and grins. 

“Me, too!” Emma replies with a mischievous glint in her eyes. 

Lindsey looks out the car window, successfully breaking their eye contact. Fortunately, the drive to the restaurant is short and Emily fills the time with casual chatter. Emma and Lindsey aren’t forced to acknowledge each other again until they’ve been seated at their booth, ending up side-by-side as Emily takes the seat across from them. 

“Think they’ll make me one of everything?” Emily wonders aloud as she almost salivates from how delicious everything on the menu sounds after a long day of training. 

“Make sure to order a stretcher, too, cause I’m not hauling your dumb ass out when the food coma hits,” Emma declares without looking up from her own menu. 

The waitress comes by to take their drink orders and Lindsey tries to hyper-focus on the menu, her mind so far too distracted to decide what she wants to eat. The pressure is on though as she knows they’ll be back to get their food order soon. She almost has her order figured out when an unexpected hand comes to rest on her upper thigh and she nearly jumps out of her seat. 

Emily is startled, too, by the sudden shift of their table. 

“Are you all right?” 

Lindsey nods as she discreetly pushes Emma’s hand away. 

“Yeah, um, I’m fine.”

Before she can interrogate further the waitress comes back around and the focus shifts to food again. Although Lindsey is beginning to question if she’ll have any appetite left the way things have been going. 

“It’s really great to have my best friend and my sister in the same place. It’s crazy being so close to two people and not having their paths cross at all.” 

“Yeah. You’d think for certain our paths would have crossed,” Emma agrees as she looks over at Lindsey to gauge her reaction to the carefully chosen words. 

Nope. No. There it goes. Lindsey’s appetite is officially gone.


	3. Chapter 3

Lindsey paces the (thankfully) empty restroom at the restaurant after managing to excuse herself from the presence of the Sonnett twins.

It was humiliating enough to hit on the wrong Sonnett, but what caused Lindsey's retreat moments earlier was the epiphany that Emma must have known the entire time. She realized there was no other explanation for how nonchalant Emma treated their reunion. And it's impossible for her to have watched Emily play and not recognize another player from the Starting XI.

Lindsey eventually takes a couple of deep breaths, turns on the faucet in front of her, and splashes some cold water on her face before reaching for a paper towel to dry off. But she doesn't get much longer to linger in her thoughts before Emma comes barging in behind her.

“Please don't tell Sonnett,” Lindsey begins to plead before catching herself, “Erm, I mean, the other one.” 

Emma nods as she leans against the nearest wall.

“I'm sorry I let you make a fool of yourself. I thought it was a story we could have looked back on and laughed about together. But with how uneasy you've been tonight I can tell I took it too far.”

“You think?” Lindsey replies with a biting tone.

“I deserve that. We didn't get off on the right foot. If we don't want Emily to know about it we'll have to settle it here though.” 

Lindsey shrugs.

“Teach me how to poach an egg before you go back home and I'll consider wiping the slate clean.”

Emma raises an eyebrow.

“What makes you think I know how to do that?”

“Guess you'll be doing my laundry then,” Lindsey offers as an alternative punishment, adding a smirk for good measure.

Emma pouts but gives no objection, knowing if they're away much longer they'll have a lot more explaining to do back at their table. 

“You play dirty, Horan. It's no wonder Emily likes you.”

Lindsey has a perplexed expression on her face as Emma turns around and exits the restroom. She knows Emma didn't mean it the way her heart received it. Yet she can't help the knot that forms in her chest as her brain latches onto the fantasy without her permission. 

When she returns to the table, their food still hasn't arrived yet, and Emily throws Lindsey off by standing up. 

“Emma says everything's fine but I'm not sure I trust her,” she explains, tilting her head sideways and pretending to give Lindsey a once over for physical injuries. “Maybe you should move over here for good measure,” she adds, gesturing toward her seat. 

Lindsey wants to protest, especially with the directions her thoughts have gone in the past few minutes. Yet she can't follow through on that instinct without casting further suspicion, so her hands are tied. They slide into their seats beside each other and Emily seems pleased with herself. 

“Now that's settled, why don't I tell you about the time Emily scored an own goal and spent at least 90 seconds celebrating before she realized it...”

Emily rolls her eyes as Emma begins the first of what she is certain will be several embarrassing stories that get retold to Lindsey in an over-dramatic fashion. 

Laughter fills the table for the remainder of dinner as the topics remain light and Lindsey gets a real opportunity to become acquainted with Emma. 

Everything remains normal until Emily insists on taking a photo of her two favorite people beside a fountain outside the restaurant. She borrows Lindsey's phone because she knows it's the newest and therefore has the best camera. 

They do a regular pose and a couple of silly poses before Emily is satisfied and pulls up Lindsey's contacts to send them to herself. Unintentionally, her eyes pass over the missed call log, the last one labeled “Emma Bar” with a phone number she recognizes as belonging to her sister. The woman in question notices the moment her twin's expression changes from happy to confused, upon observing the date/time stamp. 

Emily quickly switches to a poker face as she proceeds with the task at hand, but not before Lindsey also notices the change in her demeanor, and a renewed sense of dread washes over her.


	4. Chapter 4

“Was it Lindsey who held you up at the bar the other night?” Emily cuts right to the chase when her and Emma return to her apartment, having dropped off Lindsey back at her car so it was just the two of them.

Emily can read the answer in Emma's eyes before she replies, but waits for an explanation.

“You saw my number in her phone,” she guesses as they proceed through the hallway and each take a seat on Emily's couch.

“I didn't mean to but I did. So now I need know. Why didn't you tell me you'd already met?”

“Would you believe we were planning a surprise party?” Emma attempts a joke, but it falls flat as Emily's expression remains serious. 

“Lindsey's never lied to me before, but it makes sense now...why she was acting so weird from the moment you showed up.” 

Emma shakes her head.

“She had no fault in that. We met by accident, and I didn't tell her we're sisters because the circumstances were um...awkward?” 

Emily looks at Emma expectantly, clearly wanting an elaboration.

“Lindsey's going to kill me for this if you don't take a whack first,” Emma carries on with a sigh.

“She's the first person I'd call to hide the body anyhow, so out with it,” Emily presses, already knowing she isn't going to like whatever the truth may be and preferring to get it over with. 

“Our meeting may or may not have begun with a ruse she concocted to get my number.” Emma explains as she looks away guiltily. 

Emily lifts her right arm to run her hand their her hair subconsciously as she ponders this new information. The biggest news from her perspective being that apparently Lindsey was back on the prowl. Neither of them maintained much of a dating life recently, but Lindsey was certainly within her right to change that any time without Emily needing to be privy to it. Emily, in typical stubborn form, refuses to give any outward hint to suggest she'd care one way or another. 

“Okay. Maybe I understand why you wouldn't want to let on that you knew who she was...or bring it up to me after the fact.”

“If it's any consolation I think another one of your teammates put her up to it. I saw her back at a table with them while I was heading out,” Emma reveals.

Emily gets up from the couch en route to grab a glass of water and shrugs as she walks away.

“Why is it any concern of mine how Lindsey chooses to spend her free time?”

Emma eyes her twin's retreating form skeptically.

“Grab a second glass while you're in there?” She requests casually.

Emily returns with two glasses of water, holding one out for Emma begrudgingly. Emma shakes her head and pushes Emily's outstretched arm away.

“They're both for you.”

“Why?”

“Cause I saw the way you were looking at Lindsey tonight and you're thirstier than you think,” she quips easily. 

Emily sets the extra glass down on the coffee table, trading it quickly for a throw pillow which subsequently follows its intended trajectory, landing upside Emma's head. 

“Ow. Reserve your violent tendencies for when you're on the pitch, why don't you?” Emma comes back while rubbing her head with one hand and holding the pillow up like a shield with the other.

“I was going for the red card, cause I want out of this conversation.”


	5. Chapter 5

Emma Bar: Emily knows about us meeting at the bar. 

Lindsey reads the text that flashes across her screen as she's getting settled into bed for the night. It's still a bit too early to fall asleep, but the whirlwind of emotions she's experienced over the past couple hours exhausted her beyond the motivation to do anything else. This additional news didn't help the matter, to say the least. 

Hottie Horan ;) : On a scale of 1 to 'start packing for a move across the planet', how poorly did she take it?

Lindsey, who's sitting up in bed and leaning against her head board, takes a couple intentional deep breaths and rubs her temple as she awaits Emma's reply. 

Emma Bar: I don't think she's angry with you. You know she can be evasive though. Not sure where she went but she left after we talked it over.

Right as Lindsey finishes reading the text, as if on cue, there's a knock on her front door and she groans. Being forced out of bed after snuggling up under the covers in her favorite pajamas is the worst. It takes her long enough to reach the door that there's a second round of knocking. She looks through the peephole, despite having a strong suspicion who the uninvited guest was going to be.

Lindsey types a quick text to Emma before reaching for the door to let Emily inside her apartment.

Hottie Horan ;) : She's at my door rn. TTYL if I'm not dead.

“I know we need to talk but can we get into bed first?” Lindsey asks as Emily shuts the front door behind her.

“Please tell me that's not the same line you used on my sister.”

The joke tumbles out easily, but it definitely comes too soon. She can tell by the 'deer caught in headlights' expression that crosses Lindsey's face and the awkward silence that follows. 

“I...uh...yeah. So you know about, um, the thing.” Lindsey tries after their pause, as she begins walking towards her bedroom, expecting Sonnett to follow.

Emily waits until they're seated beside each other on Lindsey's bed, a setting that's familiar for the both of them with how much time they spend together, before carrying on with the purpose of this particular visit.

“I think you know why I'm here? But I only have one question Emma couldn't have answered for me. So here it goes. Did you really want to hook up with her?”

“No,” Lindsey replies quickly, a sign she doesn't need to think about it.“I approached her so Caitlin would get off my back about...somebody else.” She trails off as her confidence slips.

Emily looks directly at Lindsey, trying to make eye contact, but Lindsey seems to be looking anywhere else on purpose. It's not so much about what she has said as much as what she hasn't. They don't have many secrets from each other, apart from this one, and there's only one explanation that comes to Emily's mind why it would be the exception. For better or worse, she allows herself to feel hopeful in a way she usually represses.

Emily reaches out to place her hand over Lindsey's, and it has the intended effect. Lindsey's head snaps over in Emily's direction, resulting in their eyes finally connecting.

“It's me, right?” Emily asks almost as casually as one would ask about the weather, and it surprises both of them.

Lindsey feels relief flow through her body as she nods slowly.

“Is that all right?” Lindsey still checks tentatively, in the off chance she could be reading Sonnett wrong.

Emily lifts her hand from where it has been resting over Lindsey's and gently places it against her left cheek instead. 

“It's more than all right.”

Their first kiss isn't rushed. Mostly because they're still both a little skeptical about the moment existing in reality, and nobody wants a good dream to end too soon. When they pull back from each other, and after Emily lets her hand fall down by her side, the new silence that follows is much more comfortable.

They smile at one another as they reflect on what it took to finally bring them to this moment, and Lindsey can't help the chuckle that slips as she thinks about the chain of events that dragged Emma into the whole mess.

“I can't believe I almost ruined my chance with you by trying to seduce your twin.”

“I can't believe you're still thinking about Emma after that kiss,” Emily accuses with a raised eyebrow.

Lindsey shoves Emily's arm lightly before leaning over for a quick peck on the lips.

“Saucy Sonnett will always have my heart. 100%.”

“Just don't try to bottle up and sell me. I know they short change our salary, but I'm a much better girlfriend when I'm kept whole.”

“If you're going to be my girlfriend, then sharing you with other people is definitely out of the question.”

“Guess you'll have to woman up and ask me out then,” Emily challenges.

“Maybe later. I don't like it when other players can predict my moves.”

“Touché.”


End file.
